Wolf Hiding

怒潮

China, 2023, colour, 2.35:1, 105 mins.

Director: Ma Yuke 马浴柯.

Rating: 7/10.

A hard-driven, stygian tale of gangsterly ambition, deceit and murder is a striking directorial debut by Mainland actor Ma Yuke.

STORY

An island in the Pacific Ocean, Duan city, Nov 2015. A fresh batch of trafficked women, both Asian and western, arrives and is processed. The business is run by Karlos (Diego Dati) and is supervised by Ugo (Ma Yuke), who works for Hongtai Group, a powerful conglomerate that deals in finance, property, medical treatment – and people- and organ-trafficking. Chairman Hong Tai (Qin Pei), a onetime philanthropist, founded the company with Wang Ruopu (Lian Kai) and Ugo (whom he adopted as a teenager), and rose to become a powerful tycoon. Now, however, he is about to retire and stand as a councillor for Duan city’s New District. His anointed successor at Hongtai Group is longtime deputy Ovalon (Wu Qihua); but the night before the ceremony Ovalon is murdered. That same night police chief Auen (Lou Xuexian) orders alcoholic chief detective Mai Langwen (Ruan Jingtian) to break up the crowds of families demonstrating about their lost loved ones outside police headquarters. At the splashy ceremony next day, attended by all of Duan city’s worthies, Hong Tai is told the news about Ovalon; he gives Auen (Lou Xuexian) 24 hours to find the killer. On the way home Hong Tai’s motorcade is attacked by the killer (Zhang Jiahui), who in turn is almost captured by Mai Langwen. Back at police headquarters Mai Langwen is put in charge of the case by Auen. Meanwhile, at Hongtai Group, the excitable Wang Ruopu reckons that the mysterious killer was hired by one “among us”. Later the killer turns up at the home of Wang Ruopu, who is later murdered; also on the premises was one of Hong Tai’s top flunkies, Ma Wenkang (Wang Dalu), who is suspected by some of the murder. Mai Langwen and his team arrive too late. Ugo thinks that the killings have all been orchestrated by Hong Tai himself, to consolidate his power, and tells another top flunky, George (Chen Guokun), that they are both next on the list. Ugo approaches Karlos to kill Ma Wenkang, promising him a deal when he becomes chairman; at the same time Ma Wenkang calls Karlos to kill Ugo. Ugo and his men go to the hospital where Hong Tai is recovering in order to kill him. But Hong Tai is not in his room, and George, who has betrayed Ugo, is waiting for him. As Ma Wenkang battles for his life against Karlos’ men, Ugo battles for his life against George’s men. At the end, Hong Tai receives a call from the killer, Chen An, who says he doesn’t work for Ugo as Hong Tai thought. Instead, he has some surprising news for Hong Tai about his daughter Hong Shali (He Xinlin).

REVIEW

Lanzhou-born actor Ma Yuke 马浴柯, 44, who’s had a steady, three-decade career often playing sidekicks, villains and other supports in action/crime movies, makes a notable – if somewhat breathless – debut as a writer-director with Wolf Hiding 怒潮, a stygian tale of gangsterly ambition, organ-trafficking and multiple murders set on a fictional Pacific island. Co-written with Gu Haoran 顾浩然 (tomb-hunting adventure Mojin: The Worm Valley 云南虫谷, 2018, in which Ma had a light-hearted supporting role), it’s often so densely written and staged that it’s dificult to keep up with. But the overall drive and suspicion-laden atmosphere never let up – aided by a powerful male cast led by Hong Kong’s Zhang Jiahui 张家辉 [Nick Cheung] and 秦沛 Qin Pei [Paul Chun], plus Taiwan’s Ruan Jingtian 阮经天 and Wang Dalu 王大陆 – and the whole thing is capped by an orgy of fighting and violence in which hardly any of the cast survives.

At the very least, and despite its unlikeable characters, Wolf is a striking piece of work. Shot in Shenzhen and Shantou in autumn 2021, it took a more-than-respectable RMB229 million on release at the end of 2023. Ma has since written and directed the similar-sounding gangster movie Go for Broke 重生 (literally, “Rebirth”), also with Zhang and Ruan, and co-written by Gu, that wrapped in summer 2023. [It was released in the Mainland in Aug 2024.]

The film’s Chinese title means “Tide of Rage” and it sets out as it means to continue, with trafficking, murder and other dark deeds even before the main title appears, closely followed by more of the same afterwards. There are a lot of characters to sort out in the first half-hour as the ruthless head of a business conglomerate (effortlessly played by Qin) announces his retirement and a mysterious killer hired by someone at the company starts taking people out. A familiar drama of criminal “brothers”, between whom no love is lost when the chips are down, it’s considerably darker than many Hong Kong equivalents and hard-driven on all fronts – from the intricate plotting, through the visceral, hand-to-hand fighting (staged, typically, by South Koreans, led by Shin Jae-myeong 신재명 | 申宰明), to a finale in which even the explanation is difficult to keep up with. It’s all wrapped in shadowy, menacing photography by Hong Kong d.p. Chen Zhiying 陈志英 (Buddies in India 大闹天竺, 2017; Sunny Sisters 阳光姐妹淘, 2021; The Woman in the Storm 我经过风暴, 2023), tightly cut by his experienced compatriot Kuang Zhiliang 邝志良, and darkly styled by fellow Kong Konger Bai Yiting 白伊廷, aka Bai Xipo 白希珀 (Once upon a Time in Hong Kong 金钱帝国   追虎擒龙, 2021).

One of Hong Kong’s subtlest talents, Zhang comes through strongly as the enigmatic assassin whose role grows in the second half. Lantern-jawed Wang is a resonant presence as one of the suspects, all dead eyes and slicked-back hair. But the biggest surprise is Ruan, so often a colourless actor, who is almost unrecognisable here as a scruffy, alcoholic cop who tries to solve the case. It’s his best performance since the under-rated murder mystery Kill Time 谋杀似水年华 (2016), directed by Chen Guo 陈果 [Fruit Chan].

CREDITS

Presented by iQiyi Pictures (Shanghai) (CN), Xiamen Hengye Pictures (CN), Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Cultural Media (CN), Shanghai Maoyan Pictures (CN), Xiamen Hengye Herdsman Pictures (CN). Produced by Xiamen Hengye Herdsman Pictures (CN).

Script: Ma Yuke, Gu Haoran. Photography: Chen Zhiying. Editing: Kuang Zhiliang, Huang Qiongyi. Music: Hu Xiao’ou. Production design: Yang Wei. Art direction: Liu Li’na. Costumes: Wang Yueping. Styling: Bai Yiting [Bai Xipo]. Sound: Wu Jingjing. Action: Shin Jae-myeong, Oh Myeong-hun, Jo Min-gyo, Zhang Zhifu. Special effects: Huo Jintang. Visual effects: Liu Hao.

Cast: Zhang Jiahui [Nick Cheung] (Chen An), Ruan Jingtian (Mai Langwen), Wang Dalu (Ma Wenkang), Qin Pei [Paul Chun] (Hong Tai), Ma Yuke (Wuge/Ugo), Chen Guokun (George), Lian Kai (Wang Ruopu), Wu Qihua (Ovalon), Li Xiangxuan (Banji/Benji, Mai Langwen’s sidekick), Chen Xiaoyi (Chen Le, Chen An’s younger sister), He Xinlin (Hong Shali/Sally, Hong Tai’s daughter), Jiang Haowen [Philip Keung] (Han Duya, Mai Langwen’s mentor), He Shaohong (Hou Saiyin, chief prosecutor), Lou Xuexian (Auen, police chief), Diego Dati (Karlos), Mamisasvili Temur (Diego), Zhang Changmin (headmaster), Hu You (Ugo’s wife), Xu Jinhao (Ugo’s son), Zong Jingya (Ugo’s daughter).

Release: China, 16 Dec 2023.